Assignment for the entire music department....

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I know that the vast majority of you aren't technically my students- but I have an assignment for every single student in the music department:

You've heard all of the music teachers at North talk about one of the best ways to become a better musician: to listen to the masters of the music.  Consider how an infant learns to talk: it's not by listening to other infants, it's by listening to the adults around it who are experts in the native language.  The same goes with learning to speak the language of music.

So, with that in mind, I have the following assignment for all of you: go to Pandora.com.  There, I want you to search an artist that you like in one of ensemble disciplines that you participate in- It could be Mozart or the New York Philharmonic for Orchestra.  It could be Maurice Andre for a trumpet player or David Schifrin for a Clarinetist.  It could be Dawn Upshaw or Placido Domingo for a vocalist.  Charlie Parker or Thelonious Monk for a jazz student. From there, Pandora will educate you about other artists that perform music similar to the artist that you initially chose.  And it's FREE!!!  

I guarantee that you will be a better musician if you make this part of your life on a daily basis.